


Neverland

by Lauren_is_a_moron



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, F/M, I loved writing this so so much, M/M, Peter Pan References, Peter pan modern AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-15
Updated: 2017-11-15
Packaged: 2019-02-02 23:48:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12736782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lauren_is_a_moron/pseuds/Lauren_is_a_moron
Summary: Elizabeth Darling narrowly escaped from a cruel experiment when she was ten years old. Seven years later, Betty Cooper has forgotten about Neverland. She has forgotten about Peter, Tink and Lily. Though her past comes back to haunt her when she starts seeing the shadows she repressed from her childhood as her reality starts to split open. Betty tried to forget, she tried to rid herself of her dark past, throwing herself into therapy. But when she sees varsity football captain Archie Andrews catapult a rival team player fifty feet across the football field and finds Jughead Jones, a boy who is suddenly so familiar to her- on the school roof claiming he can fly, she is sucked back into the world of Neverland.‘What are you doing?!’ Betty called up, and the boy looked down. ‘Watch!’ He shouted, and she felt bile climb to the back of her throat. ‘Watch what?’ her voice broke. ‘Are you crazy?! Get down!’‘Nah,’ The boy laughed. ‘I can fly! See, just watch me!’...the peter pan modern AU nobody asked for.





	Neverland

**Author's Note:**

> I watched Peter pan and...........this is the outcome.

Prologue.

 ****_  
_ _The shadows were not real._

 No matter how many times Elizabeth Darling said that, repeating it over and over again like a mantra, trying to convince herself of the obvious lie. She couldn't seem to believe it. Even if she whispered it to when she was alone, screamed it into her pillows when she was absolutely sure the adults were asleep during lights out. She supposed that was why she had ended up once again in the nurse's office. Which was by far her least favorite place in the whole world. Though she was only ten years old, and hadn't seen set foot outside the dull white walls of the ward in what felt like forever. She had barely even seen the world outside.  Sometimes she swore she just appeared here. In Neverland. The name itself felt magical, as if she had been whisked to a secret world where anything was possible. Except...no. That's not what Neverland was. Neverland was actually a special hospital for children her age who were sick. Elizabeth was there because she saw the shadows. But she didn't remember anything else before Neverland. All she remembered was this place, its pale yellow walls and the children. The kids she had grown up with. She had no memory of a mom or a dad- a family.

The adults told her what she was seeing wasn’t real. Because Elizabeth was seeing things which they couldn’t. Dark shapes shrouded, pressed against her bedroom ceiling, silently suffocating her in her dreams. Though no matter how many times she insisted they were real - _They were real!_ She only received raised eyebrows small smiles.

‘Oh Elizabeth,’ The main Doctor- her least favorite- Dr Hook- smiled down at her when she woke up screaming, drenched in sweat. ‘They’re just a trick of the light, sweetheart.’ He had murmured, with a certain gleam in his eyes, a twist in his lips. Elizabeth hated him. He never listened to her. Though she wasn’t alone. Most of the kids weren’t fond of him. Mostly because of his- defect. The kids had been told not to stare, but Elizabeth found it incredibly hard not to. Dr Hook didn’t have a hand. In its place, he had a real life hook. Like an actual villain from a book. Elizabeth liked to call him Captain Hook because he ordered her around so much.

At one point Betty had been convinced herself it was in fact _her_. She was creating them with what her psychiatrist had called “an over-active imagination.” But even when she purposely switched off her brain, they still came. Every single night without a fault. They danced across her bedroom walls and haunted her dreams. Sometimes the shadow took the form of a boy. Though there were never any features. It was just an outline, a dark imprint of a human boy her age. He liked to bounce around her bedroom, on the ceiling, on the floor. It has gotten so bad that Betty had to turn her light off. If there was no light, there was no shadow, and there was no shadow boy. Though of course the adults had started to ask questions. Why wouldn't they? Elizabeth was terrified of the dark, and now she was sleeping, curled up, even before lights out- with her bedside lamp switched off, swamping her small room in pitch darkness. It was the only way to avoid the shadows. _Which were_ _very_ _real._

Dr Smee’s office was small, with only her desk and a bookcase stocked with the classics. Elizabeth tore her gaze from her lap and focused on the spines of each book on the top shelf. She spent most of her time reading, collecting books from the small library where the children were allowed to go during free time. Alice in Wonderland was her all time favorite. She had the library copy in her room on her desk. She liked to hide under her covers and use a flashlight to read the brittle dog-eared pages. Betty was sure of one thing; as long as she was underneath her covers, the shadows couldn't get her, and the shadow boy couldn't grasp her bare ankles and yank her from her bed and whisk her away to his evil shadow world.

“Okay, Elizabeth,” Dr Smee cleared her throat and leaned forward, waggling her eyebrows. “Can you tell me about the shadows?” The woman spoke with a slight smirk, as if laughing at the girl. Elizabeth wanted to cry with frustration. Why did nobody believe her? They were coming to get her. If they _did_ get her, then the adults would be sorry they didn’t listen to her.

Elizabeth shuffled uncomfortably on the wooden chair she had been told to sit on. She brought her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin on her knees. Dr Smee, her psychiatrist, was sitting opposite her with her usual frown, studying Elizabeth like she was a lab rat. Dr Smee was young, around her mid-twenties with short dark hair pulled into a ponytail. She wore a white lab coat over a smooth blue dress and heels. Dr Smee clicked her heels together as she peered at Elizabeth through thick rimmed glasses. Betty really didn't like the woman. She had a fake smile, one that lied. _“Don't worry, Lizzy.”_ Dr Smee had beamed. Elizabeth hated being called that. It made her sound like a child, like a little girl. Which she definitely was _not_. She wasn't a fan of her full name, so one of the kids in her ward had helped her change it.

‘What about Betty?’ The sleep-walking kid had suggested, when Betty was playing with him in the waiting room before their session’s. She had been complaining about her name, about how childish it sounded. He had been quick to suggest the name, and she had fallen in love with it. Betty. She liked to call herself. Betty Darling. Sleep-walking boy had liked it too. It was their first secret they kept between them. Betty didn’t know the sleep-walking boy’s full name. All she knew was that his second name was Pan. She didn’t know much about him either. Only that he woke her up almost every night as he traipsed the halls of Neverland in a deep trance. Before their small exchange, she had plucked up the courage to stand on her tiptoes and peek through the window in her door and had glimpsed him. He was her age with thick dark hair falling in his closed eyes. The dim lights illuminating the ward had made him look like some kind of angel as he put one bare foot in front of the other, his arms spread out as if he was flying as he slowly made his way down the corridor. He never got very far. Dr Smee and Hook always caught him before he could reach the end of the hall. Betty wondered where the boy was going, or rather, wanted to go. She found herself thinking about the way his arms had been spread out like wings, as if he was dreaming of soaring the skies. Though she was was snapped out of it by Dr Smee. ‘Elizabeth.’ Dr Smee cleared her throat. ‘Are you going to talk to me?’

 _Where was Dr Jane?_ She wanted to ask. Dr Jane was nicer and actually listened to her.

Betty lifted her head momentarily to frown at the woman. _No._ She thought, bitterly to Dr Smee's question. Thinking back to their last session.

 _“Whatever you say is strictly professional between you and me,”_ Dr Smee had said through a bright smile and very fake smile. At the time, Elizabeth had been naive and believed the woman, and then gone on to pour her heart out about _everything_.

 _“You have my word.”_ The woman had promised. _Liar_. Betty thought, presently. She scrunched her face up. Betty ended up in a staring contest between her and the psychiatrist. Dr Smee was waiting for her to crack, to tell her everything. But she wouldn’t. The pills that Betty already had to take were gross and made her tummy hurt. They made her feel so strange.

‘ _Elizabeth, you can trust me.’_ That's what she had said in their last session, and Betty had made the mistake of telling her about the shadow boy. The woman had nodded in all the right places and jotted notes in her notepad before telling Betty with one of her ridiculous fake smiles. _“Everything is going to be fine, Elizabeth! Just keep taking your medication.’_

The thing was, everything was not fine at all. Even if Betty did take the medication, she still saw the shadows. She still saw the shadow boy. So she supposed that's why she was here- once again- in Dr Smee’s claustrophobic office, watching the woman hastily make notes every few seconds. Betty was sure her psychiatrist was saying bad things, by the way Dr Smee’s pen scrawled violently across the page. Betty took a deep breath and clenched her fists by her sides. _They weren't real_. If Dr Smee was going to believe her, then she had to make it convincing. She hated coming in for check-ups. Her psychiatrist also worked as a doctor and she she was sure Dr Smee enjoyed seeing her squirm when she was forced onto the weighing scales or interrogated on how much sleep she had been getting. Which was none. Betty knew it was evident in the dark circles printed under her sleepy eyes.

Betty caught a flash of her own reflection in the picture frame on the woman’s desk. She didn't look at the picture, which was a much younger version of her psychiatrist with her arms wrapped around a small child she didn’t know. Instead, Betty stared at the glass, at the vague echo of her own small form. She barely recognized herself. Just like she thought, there were dark circles under her eyes from days without sleep. Her blonde hair was unbrushed, falling on her slouched shoulders. She glared at herself. If she was going to do a good job of lying to her psychiatrist than she should at least try and act _normal._

Because she was normal. She was a completely normal ten year old girl. In the world she created n her head, the facade she desperately tried to hide under, there were no shadows, and most importantly: No shadow boy haunting her dreams.

 _Not real_. Betty bit down on her lower lip so hard she tasted blood. She lifted her head and forced a smile at Dr Smee. ‘There are no shadows, Dr Smee.’ she said softly, playing with the seam of her nightdress. ‘They’re not real.’ Betty straightened up in he chair and narrowed her eyes at the woman, silently challenging Dr Smee to try and argue. Betty held back a startled cry when she glimpsed a shroud of darkness start to emerge at the corner of her eye, just at the back of the room. It grew significantly like a storm cloud, slowly beginning to eat up the back of Dr Smee’s office. Betty squeezed her eyes shut. She knew if she pointed at it, crying out, the woman would frown, her eyebrows furrowing with confusion. Because she _couldn’t_ see it.

‘Can I go now?’ She asked softly, whimpering it into the gap between her knees. She was starting to tremble, everything inside her was telling her to look back. Because the shadow was there, it was real. It was right behind Dr Smee!

The woman looked surprised. ‘’Are you not seeing them anymore?’ She asked, and Betty shook her head a defiant _no._ Even if yes, she was seeing them. More and more- every day. It was like the shadows were slowly manifesting themselves into her life. Not just attacking her at night, but also in the day-time.  Just like now. Betty was always afraid the shadows would catch up to her, but they look their time, slowly draining the color from her vision and eating up everything at the corner of her eye.

Dr Smee lost her smile. ‘Are you _sure_ , sweetie?’ Betty curled her hands into fists, gripping her nightdress. She hated the nicknames they gave her. Sweetheart. Honey. Sweetie.

Betty nodded. Anything to get her out of the nurses office. She clutched tighter at the seams of her nightdress, mentally willing the woman to end the session. Dr Smee sighed and leaned back in her chair, crossing one leg over the other. ‘Elizabeth, are you lying to me?’ She murmured, and Betty felt chills fly down her spine. ‘Because there are ways of finding out, my dear.’

‘No.’ Betty replied stiffly. It was getting harder to lie. But if she said anything, she’d sound even crazier.

Though Dr Smee wasn’t buying it. Elizabeth, is there something you’re not telling me?’ She pressed, leaning forward. Betty resisted against a flinch. When she risked a look up, the shadow was hanging over the bookcase, eating up each classic as it went. Betty shook her head again. She kept her eyes on the soft carpeted floor, trailing her gaze over each faded line in the patchwork. _Don’t ask again_. She wanted to cry out. _Please don’t ask again!_

‘I just want to go.’ She murmured softly. ‘Dr Smee, please can I go now?’

The woman sighed, before nodding. She closed her notepad. ‘Of course, Elizabeth. I believe it’s breakfast time.' She cocked her head, a small smile on her scarlet lips. ‘You’re looking a little pale. Make sure to get something to eat, okay?’

Betty nodded, relief flooding her. When she looked up, the shadow was gone. She stared at the place it had been and blinked, willing it back into existence. But it was gone. The books were back, neatly stacked like they had been. Betty ducked her head, tears springing to her eyes. _She wasn’t crazy._ She jumped out of the chair and smoothed down her nightdress, before turning and running out of Dr Smee’s office. Once she was out, Betty let herself cry. She bunched her fists into her eyes, trying to wipe away the tears. But they came thick and fast, trickling down her cheeks. She sniffed and used the neck of her nightdress to wipe her face.

 _Not crazy_. She repeated to herself, muttering the words repeatedly as she walked towards the breakfast hall. Betty could already hear the loud clattering of plates and the loud chatter of the other patients. She quickened her pace, her bare feet slapping against the cold tiles. Betty didn’t look back. But she could _feel_ the shadows already following in her wake.

~

 

Dr Jane Ford worked at Neverland Children’s hospital as a psychiatric nurse. Though she was aware of the experiment going on. She didn’t agree with it, and was sure it was pretty much child abuse, but Jane kept her mouth shut. She knew was Jack Hook was capable of. It was Jane’s job to look after the children, as well talk to them in therapy. Lie to them. Tell them they were either seeing things, hearing things or imagining things. When it was all very real, and very dangerous. But she couldn’t back out now. Jack had grand plans for the kids, and if she tried to stop it, if she attempted to rescue from Neverland, she would end up dead.

So Jane forced a smile when she turned up for work. She lied to each and every kid she spoke to, telling them the monsters under their beds were just their over-active imaginations, and the inexplicable things they could spontaneously do, were part of their illness and just vivid hallucinations that only _felt_ real. Jane had been working at Neverland for nearly three years. She had gotten to know the kids, grown attachments to them. Perhaps that’s why, when Dr Jack Hook announced he wanted to destroy the project and all of the evidence - the kids– she knew she wasn’t going to go along with it anymore. Jack had dropped the bombshell when she had been writing up her notes on the kids she had held session’s with that morning. Jane had dark hair pulled into a ponytail that she was always fiddling with. It was a nervous habit. She was tugging on it subconsciously when Hook had walked in.

‘We’re in trouble, Jane,’ Hook had said it so abruptly, strolling into the staff-room with a twisted look of disgust on his face. Jane had never found him attractive. He definitely _thought_ he was. Jack was in his early forties with greying hair, but a handsome face. If she didn’t find him repulsive and was actually interested in him and _didn’t_ know about the cruel experiments he was doing on children, the hook would still be a turn- off. Apparently he had lost his hand in an accident involving an alligator. He liked to boast that he had been the one to overpower the “vicious reptile” after a boating trip with his friends had taken a turn for the worse.

She had lost count of how many times he had flirted with her, and she had had to tell him for the millionth time, that she had a boyfriend and a beautiful baby boy. That didn’t stop Jack’s wandering hands- or rather- wandering hook. ‘What are you talking about, Hook?’ She referred to him by his second name the majority of the time, which she knew he hated. It was just another way to get under his skin without causing any damage to her career or wonky “friendship” with him. Hook had sighed and plonked himself down on the crappy table they used for staff dining. ‘One of the kid’s records was leaked, he muttered into his coffee as he sipped it. ‘I’ll give it a day before the feds come and drag me to jail.’

Jane didn’t think she had ever been happier than that moment. But she tried to hide it with a concerned look as she leaned back in her chair, abandoning her notes. ‘What?’

Hook sighed. ‘Everything, Jane. They know everything. Project N.E.V.E.R. Everything.’

Jane could hardly believe what she was hearing. ‘So, what, the experiment is over?’ She asked, a little too hopefully. Hook just spluttered into his drink. ‘Over? Yes. But we’re getting rid of everything, Jane.’ He adapted a rather crazy look in his dull brown eyes. ‘We’re burning this place to the ground. The kids go, their files, everything.’ He grinned up at her. ‘Like they were never here.’

Then he chortled. ‘Never here,’ he murmured. ‘Get it? Neverland.’ His ridiculous pun is ignored and he only snorts at it.

Jane tried hard not to swallow. She knew the man wasn’t joking. Neverland wasn’t exactly on the map, per-say. She had to sit on a twenty minute nauseating boat-ride to get to work. Neverland Children’s Hospital sat on a cliff, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. The island below was just trees and farm-land. Hook could easily burn the place down, along with any evidence. The children were orphans, picked from all over the country. They didn’t have parents or families that would miss them. Jane felt sick.

‘Jack,’ she cleared her throat and stood up, trying to calm her racing heart. ‘Think about this for a second,’ she said calmly. ‘Hook, they’re kids.’ She couldn’t seem to keep the growl from her voice no matter how hard she tried. ‘Plus, didn’t you say you had plans for them?’ Jane regretted saying that. But being a group of genetically engineered ten year olds led by a mad scientist was surely a better fate than burning to death. Jane could see every child flicker across her mind, every twisted expression as they tried to explain things they didn’t understand. That Hook had done to them without their consent and told them they were crazy

 _“Dr Jane, I can see shadows.”_ The voice in her mind was familiar. Little Elizabeth Darling who was scared of the shadows that Jane had told her repeatedly weren’t real. ‘ _They’re just in your head, Elizabeth.’_ She had insisted. Lied. To a child.

‘Tonight.’ Hook murmured as he drained his cup. ‘We’ll do it tonight, and then me, you and Dr Smee will go into hiding,’ he shrugged. ‘Even if they do catch us, they’ll never have any evidence. I’m burning every last morsel to the ground.’

Hook smirked at her, and Jane felt her stomach twist. She wasn’t going to let him hurt them. No way. So she smiled and nodded at the psychopath and started to plan her own and fifteen children’s daring escape in her head.

 

_~_

Breakfast never changed. The friendly cook’s always served the same thing; lumpy porridge. Betty wasn’t a fan of porridge, but the rule was that if you didn’t eat your breakfast, you were automatically sent to the nurses office for a check-up, and she really didn’t need that right now. So even when her stomach was rolling with nausea, she swallowed the bile in her throat and joined the other kids in the lunch-room. The cafeteria wasn’t too big. There weren’t a huge amount of kids in the ward. Betty had counted fifteen. Betty quickly lined up and grabbed a bowl of porridge and glass or orange juice. Her stomach growled. She didn’t realize how hungry she was. Betty looked around for a table. Her usual seat had been taken up by a group of boy’s she wasn’t familiar with. She stood silently watching kids still in their night clothes as they sat with friends, or alone, gulping down breakfast.

Betty scanned the cafeteria for any empty seats. There were small tables scattered around the room with enough seats for four kids. She spotted a free seat with three kids around her age, who looked to be in deep conversation.

Betty hurried over, slumping into the rickety chair and bending over her breakfast. Betty didn’t speak to many of the kids. Her only communication with any of them had been with Sleep-walking Boy. His name lingered in her mind. Pan. Betty didn’t look up from her tray. But she knew the kids at the table had abruptly stopped their conversation, and were now staring at her. None of them spoke as she curled into herself, letting her blonde hair dangle in her face. Betty was halfway through her third spoonful of porridge when one of the kids cleared their throat. She lifted her head to find a familiar face smiling across the table at her.

 _Pan._ It was strange seeing him awake. She noticed he had green eyes, his chocolate brown hair flopped over his forehead. Betty wasn’t sure of his first name. When she caught his eye, he smiled at her, his eyebrows raised. Well, she had just dumped herself on their table. But Pan didn’t look annoyed or irritated to Betty’s relief. He looked amused.

Pan was sitting with a dark haired girl with golden skin. There was a bright orange flower in her hair. The girl lifted her hand in a shy wave, and Betty smiled back. Next to the girl, there was another boy. He had short red hair poking from underneath a small light green beanie. He was halfway through his breakfast, but offered her a grin, showing her chewed up porridge. His pale cheeks were covered in freckles. Betty raised her porridge covered spoon in a silent greeting. She found herself staring at the hospital bracelet that had been twined around her wrist since she could remember. She had to wear it all times, apart from in the shower and in bed. The letters imprinted on the tag were faded, but she could still see them if she squinted.

**ELIZABETH DARLING**

**REF NUMBER: 4F7YHF87YDGFSG**

**DOB: 06/13/2001  
**

To this day, Betty still didn’t know what the number meant. She glanced up. The other kids had their bracelets too, all in different state’s. The girl had tied hers into a ribbon, and Pan had drawn smiley faces all over his with red pen. The red-head was trailing his through his breakfast. His looked worse for wear. Betty had known him five minutes and she could tell he was messy.

‘Are you the girl who sees shadows?’ The girl with the flower in her hair had been picking at her breakfast, spoke up. She dropped her spoon and turned to Betty with a curious smile, a flicker in her eye. Betty felt her stomach tighten and suddenly she wasn't hungry anymore. She fiddled with her spoon, scooping up lumps of porridge and dropping them with a nasty sounding _plop_.

‘Lily, that’s rude.’ Pan spoke up with a sigh. He shrugged at Betty. ‘Sorry about Lily. She’s curious about everything.’

Lily frowned. ‘Well we were all wondering it.’ she mumbled into her breakfast. The red-head nudged her.

Betty smiled stiffly. ‘It’s okay.’ she whispered. When it really wasn’t. Her cheeks heated with embarrassment. Did _all_ of the other kids know about her illness? She shivered. The red-head with the beanie finally spoke up; ‘Nice going Lily,’ he smirked at her and flicked porridge at the girl with his spoon. She squeaked and shot some back. ‘Leave it to you to upset Shadow Girl.’

Betty stiffened in her seat. _Shadow girl?_ She couldn’t help frowning at the red-head, who looked guilty when he saw her expression. She must have looked upset so he hurriedly  tried to explain himself. ‘It’s not weird!’ he insisted. ‘See, it’s what we call each-other here.’ he smiled, and pointed to Pan. ‘Sleep-walking boy,’ he named the boy, and Pan grinned, nodding, as if he was proud of it. ‘The doctor’s say I’m nar-col-lep-tic,’ he spaced out the word and shrugged. ‘It means I can fall asleep at any time.’ He explained.

The red-head nodded. ‘And Lily is Flower Girl.’ He pointed to the dark haired girl, or ‘Lily’ before gesturing to himself finally. ‘And I’m-’ He started to say, but Pan got their first. ‘He’s just Tink.’ he smirked at the red-head.

‘Tink?’ Betty repeated, and Tink nodded with a smile. ‘Yep! Well, my real name is Archibald Tink, but everyone just calls me Tink.’

‘And I’m Tiger Lily.’ The girl spoke up through a mouthful of porridge. ‘But you can call me Lily.’

Betty turned her gaze to Pan, who smiled warmly at her. ‘Peter.’ He said, and Betty nodded. before clearing her throat. ‘I’m Elizabeth Darling.’ she said, already embarrassed of the name. But she caught Peter’s eye, and his lip curled into a playful smirk. She smiled back. ‘I prefer Betty though.’ she mumbled, and the three of them nodded, smiling at her. She kept expecting them to start teasing her about her illness and the shadows, but instead, they ate breakfast in a comfortable silence before the orderlies came to escort them back to their rooms. Betty didn’t have time to say goodbye to them, before a woman she didn’t know in a bleached white lab-coat with hair the color of Tink’s was dragging her back to her room to get changed for the day.

Betty lost track of her day’s sometimes. They were a whirlwind of checkup’s and hour long chat’s with different doctor’s who told her different things; _‘You’re okay Elizabeth, this is normal for a child your age.’_ and ‘ _Elizabeth, we’re going to have to do more tests.’  
_

To find what? She always wondered, when Dr Hook was shining a bright light in her eyes or asking her different questions about the shadows. She shook her head to every single one. ‘ _I don’t see them anymore.’_ She had insisted. Though Doctor. Hook had only smiled at her, as if a shark might grin at its prey. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Elizabeth. Don’t try and hide it from us.’

Then there was lunch. Tuna sandwiches and orange jello. Betty had looked for Peter, Tink and Lily. But they were nowhere to be seen. After lunch she was weighed and measured by Dr Smee who gave Betty her usual disappointed look, and told her to pile more vegetables on her plate. But Betty hated vegetables. After that session, she had free-time where she found herself idly wandering around the ward looking for the new friends she had made at breakfast. But once again, she couldn’t find them. After ten minutes of aimlessly traipsing the halls, she gave up and grabbed Alice in Wonderland from her room and settled into a beanbag chair in The Quiet Room where kids either read books, went to sleep, or talked among themselves. Betty found herself falling into the world of Alice’s adventures in Wonderland. She had read the book so many times she had memorized the pages.

Time passed, and before Betty knew it, an orderly was announcing it was bedtime to the straying kids still hanging out in the library. She closed the book and jumped up, automatically looking around for Peter, Tink or Lily. But there was still no sign of them. Betty was once again escorted back to her room and told to get ready for bed. She threw on her nightdress, brushed her teeth and climbed into bed. But she was restless. A part of her wanted to try and find Peter’s room. She was sure he would start sleepwalking again, so she lay in bed, with her covers over her head so she couldn’t see the shadows, and waited. Though her eyes grew heavy, even when she tried hard to keep them open. Betty heard one of the orderlies pacing down the hallway, ducking into each room and switching off the light. She winced when they clicked hers off and she curled into a ball, burying her face in her pillows. Betty floated around in pre-slumber for what felt like hours, before she was rudely awakened by a sharp knocking at her door. Which was strange, because normally it was Peter’s footsteps as he practically danced down the corridor in a daze. When Betty sat up, she was greeted an inescapable void of darkness. But the knocks were so powerful, cracking against the glass in her door that she swallowed her fear and jumped out of bed, slowly feeling her way along her bedroom walls to the door. Betty stood on her tiptoes to try and get a look out, but another sharp knock made her nearly jump backwards in fright. She couldn’t help turning around and scanning her room for shadows. But she saw none. Betty opened her mouth to try and hiss at whoever was attacking her door, but instead of speaking, slammed her hand over her mouth and nose and her heart started to pound, her tummy twisting.

Smoke. She could smell it curling in her nostrils, burning on her tongue. Betty started to panic and pounded her fists on the door. There was a corresponding knock and she tried the handle. Locked.

‘Betty?!’ Came a shout from outside, and Betty nearly cried in relief. Tink. She grabbed the door handle and tried yanking at it, pulling at it relentlessly, but it wouldn’t budge. ‘Get me out of here!’ she squeaked. The smell was getting stronger. When Betty pressed her face against her door and inhaled deeply, she ended up spluttering out a cough. Tink coughed loudly too. ‘Betty, I’m going to get you out!’ He shouted, his voice laced with terror. ‘Step back, okay?’ Betty stumbled back, nearly tripping over herself. ‘The door’s locked!’ she cried. ‘You need to go and get an orderly!’ But Tink didn’t seem to be listening. When she jumped in the air, trying to get a good look out of the glass window in her door, she saw Tink, standing in front of the door. Staring a it intensely.

‘What are you doing?!’ She squeaked, and only got a frustrated hiss in reply. ‘I’m trying to open the door!’

‘But it’s locked!’ She cried back. ‘Please! Get an orderly!’

‘But I can do this trick-’

Betty backed away when a commotion sounded outside, before the door was pulled open. Betty shaded her eyes when she was blinded by the hallway lights. Tink and Dr Jane were standing there, the woman’s eyes were wide with fright and Tink looked relieved. He pulled at his beanie nervously, his red hair was a scruffy mess of bed hair. ‘Elizabeth, come with me.’ she said softly, and grabbed Betty’s arm. Betty nodded, frightened, and let Dr Jane pull her and Tink down he corridor. The boy kept a tight hold of Dr Jane’s hand as she stopped at each room, ushering sleeping children out of their rooms. Betty blinked. She could see smoke now. It hung in their air like damp fog. Tink covered his nose and mouth, sending her a terrified look. Betty could only stare back as she tumbled along with a growing line of kids. They reached the end of the corridor and to Betty’s relief, Dr Jane ducked into a small room the size of hers. ‘Peter!’ she yelled loudly,as Tink tried to barge his way in too. ‘Peter, honey, follow me okay?’

Peter didn’t need to be asked twice. Betty was relieved he wasn’t sleep-walking. He hurried out of his room, sleepy-eyed and grasped onto Tink’s other hand. Now there was line of kids uncertainly marching behind Dr Jane like she was the Pied Piper. They traipsed along, dragging blankets and teddy-bears still in their pajamas. Betty, Tink and Peter stayed at the front as the hallway slowly started to fill with smoke. ‘Lily,’ Peter said, before coughing loudly. He twisted around, his expression terrified as he searched for the little girl. ‘Wait, Dr Jane, where’s Lily?’ But the woman wasn’t listening as she tried to calm down fourteen frightened children. She led them down a staircase, through wards 2+3 and the stink of smoke got so bad, Betty felt dizzy. She tried to focus on the kids faces, searching for ebony dark hair and a bright orange flower. But the smoke was making it progressively harder to see.

Lily was nowhere to be found. The thought struck Betty, and she half a mind to go back and try and find the girl. That’s exactly what Peter and Tink were trying to do, yelling and crying as Doctor. Jane forced them to move forward, and not back. It was strange being in the ward’s at night. There was no sign of Doctor Hook or Smee. Doctor Jane led them through a fire-exit and Betty breathed in the coo night air, felt it graze against her skin. They were out. But Lily was still gone. Lily was still in the hospital.

_Lily was burning._

‘Okay, children. It’s going to be okay,’ Doctor Jane was saying over and over again, but it really wasn’t. Tink and Peter were were silent and kept turning around, trying to force their way back through the crowd of kids. Betty stumbled barefoot, as they traipsed through undergrowth and down a marble pathway leading down to a dock. Betty could see the sea. It glittered under a pale moon, and she realized Neverland _was_ a secret place, a magical place. But when she risked turning around, she glimpsed bright orange flames illuminating the windows of Neverland. They were growing bigger and bigger, consuming her little home. What she thought was home, anyway. Betty’s heart ached for Lily. For the doctor’s left behind. She turned and kept her head down, her fists clenched as Doctor Jane ushered them across the rickety dock. Betty felt every creak as she stepped over each plank, and she stared down into the ocean. She wondered what it would like to fall in, to be enveloped in the water and dragged into the depths.

The children boarded the small boat. Betty stopped dead though. It was small. Tiny. Her breath caught in her throat. Could that really hold 15 kids? She realized she didn’t have a choice, however. Doctor Jane wrapped her gentle arms around Betty’s waist and lifted her onto the boat, sitting her down next to Peter. Tink was making a fuss, trying to jump off the boat, yelling that they were leaving Lily behind. But when Betty looked back, Neverland was engulfed with flames, lighting up the night. The bright oranges and yellows made her head spin and she had to look away. Lily was gone. Doctor. Jane managed to calm Tink down, and he sat with his knees to his chest, his head buried in his lap. Betty was sure he was crying . There was a loud mechanical noise making her jump, and the boat started to fly forwards as it rode the waves. Betty looked down, her blonde hair dangling in front of her eyes. She had read about the sea, had glimpsed it through a window at Neverland. Though she had never been so close to it.

The kids were either crying quietly, or silent, as the boat carried them from the island, from Neverland which was now a glowing orange speck in the distance. Betty didn’t stay sat down with the others. She couldn’t help it. She stumbled over the desk and grabbed onto the railings, allowing herself to breathe, allowing herself to cry for Lily. The sky seemed to stretch on forever, a pitch black blanket. There were no shadow’s. Betty wondered if she had left them back at Neverland. If they were destroyed too. Betty felt the wind flying through her hair and couldn’t help smiling softly, as she stared down into the deep ocean.

‘Elizabeth, sit down!’ Doctor Jane yelled, from the wheel. But Betty didn’t listen. She didn’t want to sit down and cry with Tink and Peter. She wanted to get the full experience of the outdoors, of the wind in her face, the bitter air chilling her to the core.

Betty could see the land in the distance. Light. Buildings. Civilization. It was all so strange, seeing it for the first time, after being locked in Neverland her whole life. She leaned forward, keeping a tight hold on the raining and squinted. But there was something else. There was a shape in the shadows, silently drifting across the sea towards them. Betty held her breath. It was another boat.

Doctor Jane hissed a bad word, and twisted away from the steering wheel. ‘Tink!’ she yelled, and the red-headed boy looked up sharply, his eyes blood-shot. He stood up slowly, dragging a hand through his bedraggled curls.

Betty took a small step backwards. The boat was coming fast now, and it didn’t look like it was going to stop.

‘Tink, that thing you can do- what you told me about in our session’s?’ Doctor Jane yelled breathlessly as she tried to steer the boat a different direction. Betty started to make her way back to the other kids, but there was a sudden vicious jolt, as the large looming shape smashed into the side of their boat. The children started to panic, screaming and holding onto each other for dear life. Betty lost her footing and slipped on the deck, crashing down and banging her head. Suddenly, everything was a blur.

‘Tink!’ Doctor. Jane yelled. ‘Now, please!’

Tink nodded, his expression perplexed and stepped onto the deck and held his arms out, palms facing forwards. Peter rushed to Betty’s aid, but the boat rocked violently from a second attack. Tink managed to keep his footing as he glared at the boat, narrowing his eyes, concentrating. Peter slipped too, crashing down onto his knees.. Betty tried to stand, but her hair was hurting, her mind spinning. Tink cried out in frustration. ‘I can’t do it!’ he yelled, echoed by the most familiar laugh. Betty swore she recognized it, though maybe she was imagining it. It sounded like Doctor Hook. Peter grabbed for her, holding out his hand as their boat jolted and rocked, trying to throw the lot of them overboard. Betty tried to grab his hand, but she was slipping.

‘Betty,’ Peter gasped. ‘Betty, try and hold on!’ But he was taken aback for a second, when the boat that had been lunging into them, trying to force them into the deep blue, was suddenly catapulted backwards, as if a strong force had yanked it violently. There was an almighty splash and Peter stared in awe, his gaze traveling to Tink, who was still standing with his palms out, gasping for breath. Betty could hold on no further. With a final lurch, the boat send her hurtling overboard. She didn’t feel anything at first. There was only the sensation of flying, of falling, before she hit the water. Betty felt herself sink as the waves surrounded her, pulling her down, down down. She felt ice fill her mouth, her ears, her nose and her screams were drowned out by the white noise buzzing in her ears. Betty felt herself sink slowly as she billowed in the darkness, letting the ocean drag her further and further from Peter and Tink, from Dr Jane. She didn’t panic. Her body was numb, her arms floated uselessly beside her.

 _I’m drowning._ She thought, as her head filled with icy prickles, slowly but surely shutting her brain down. Betty didn’t fight it, she didn’t cry or scream. She only opened her eyes and stared into the dark.

And she was sure that the shadows she thought she left behind at Neverland, blinked back at her.

 

~

‘Hal?!’ Alice Cooper stopped dead and let out a sharp cry, her manicured hand coming to rest over her mouth. The woman was tall with short blonde hair worn in a strict ponytail. She had been walking along the shore, hand in hand with her husband Hal as her ten year old daughter Polly, ran ahead, eagerly digging around in rock-pools for treasures. Alice had thought for a second, that she had came across a sunbather. But it was mid-November and nobody had the guts to venture outside without a least four layers of clothing. Alice fell to her knees, calling out her husband’s name and for Polly to not come any closer. Poly Cooper didn’t seem to mind, she only turned back with a brief look of curiosity, before careering forwards, blonde pigtails dancing in the bitter wind.

‘It’s a child!’ Alice whispered. She was right. There was a small girl around Polly’s age, washed up against sharp rocks jutting from the coastline. The girl was curled into herself, her dark blonde hair sticking to her face. She was soaking wet, covered in sand and sea-weed, but when Alice pressed a shaky hand to her chest, she was still breathing. The girl’s eyes were shut.

Alice didn’t cry. Though she wanted to. Her voice was shaking as she scooped up the little girl into her arms and ordered Hal to call an ambulance. While the man was hurriedly dialing on his phone, Alice noticed a small plastic bracelet wrapped around the girl’s wrist. She grabbed it, peering at the name inked in black marker. Underneath that was a long number and a DOB.

Elizabeth Darling. She stared at the name, and cradled the small girl to her chest and refused to let go. Even when the ambulance came, Alice Cooper kept close to the girl, holding onto her hand as is she was her own. She never let go.

~

6 YEARS LATER.

Birthday’s were a sore subject in The Cooper household. At least Betty’s was. Betty knew she was adopted. She knew that she had been found half-dead on Wishome beach when she was ten years old and adopted by Alice and Hal Cooper. Perhaps that’s why her mother seemed to go into Ultra-protective mode every time June 13th arrived. It had been the same thing as she had grown up. Every time her birthday came, her mother seemed to go above and beyond to make Betty happy, before breaking down and telling her _the story_ for what felt like the millionth time. Sometimes Betty felt like her childhood was a fairy tale. Her mother definitely told the story like it was. How Betty had been a small child curled against the rocks in the late November chill.

‘ _I thought you were dead, Elizabeth.’_ Her mother always seemed to add that part to the story. Which of course made her uncomfortable. It was bad enough knowing she had nearly drowned when she was a kid. But washing up on a beach and seizing the local headlines as  “Riverdale’s very own Little Mermaid” was just ridiculous.

 _Thanks mom._ She thought about saying. But never _actually_ said it. Her 16th birthday was no different. Betty had woken up to a large birthday cake and her tearful mother choking out a very different version of _happy birthday_ while Polly and Hal sang along half-halfheartedly. Betty wondered if she was going to get a card where her mother had actually written the story of how she was found as a child. But thankfully there was just a long message about how much Betty meant to her, and that she was her _darling_. Ugh. Betty found it hard to believe that her name had been Darling. Elizabeth Darling. Apparently she had been in a children’s hospital, from the hospital band found on her wrist. But Betty didn’t remember anything except from waking up to find Alice Cooper’s face peering down at her, eyes wide with relief. Since then, she had new memories. Better memories. Holiday’s with the Cooper’s, her first day at school. But Alice still forced her to go to therapy. Which was every Wednesday at 4pm. Betty wasn’t exactly too fond of trying to dig up old memories of her childhood. But secretly, she did want to know where she had been. How had she ended up in the sea? What had they been treating her for in the hospital? Betty had been reassured by multiple doctor’s that there was absolutely nothing wrong with her. She was a healthy teenage girl and thankfully wasn’t dying.

So what exactly had gone on in the hospital? And why, after so many years, had nobody tried to track it down? That question was always on Betty’s mind, and it was there, nudging against her consciousness as she blew out sixteen candles, accepted her gifts from her family and ushered them out of her room with a bright smile which was very good at hiding the fact that she had a banging headache, and 7am off-tune singing to her least favorite day of the year didn’t exactly make her feel better.

Betty didn’t waste any time. There was a game tonight. Bulldog’s Vs Serpent’s and Cheryl Blossom, leader of the Riverdale High River Vixens would murder her if she missed it. Betty dressed quickly in a light pink sweater and jeans, tying her hair into a her usual loose ponytail. She examined herself in the mirror, frowning at the dark shapes underneath her eye. No amount of concealer could hide them. They were prominent. But they weren’t sleep circles, even if she had been having trouble sleeping. Nightmares of grasping shadow’s and unearthly screams were a factor of her headaches and never being able to concentrate at school.

But the dark circles were something else entirely. Her mother had explained that they had been there since they day she was found, and most likely before that. All the specialists and doctor’s her mother had taken her to had been baffled. They never had an answer. So Betty was stuck looking like a panda. She could hide the startling obscurity of them with makeup and enough eyeliner, but they were still always there. Haunting her. Where had they came from? Were _they_ what she was being treated for?

Betty shook her head and grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder before dashing downstairs and grabbing some dry toast. ‘Bye!’ she yelled out the door, before her mother could squeeze her to death in one of her death defying hugs.

It was pretty warm for June, and Betty was starting to regret wearing a sweater. She stuck her earphones in, cranking her music up as started walking to school. She enjoyed being in her own head. Daydreaming, thinking up ridiculous stories that she could write down later. Betty kept her head down as she surveyed every crack in the sidewalk, trying to spin out a story for everything she saw. There was an old soda can. _Who had drunk from that? What was their story?_ Some moldy chewing gum sticking to the roasting concrete. She figured some kid had spat it out while skateboarding though suburbia. Betty lifted her head for a small second, allowing her gaze to soak in her surroundings. The air was fresh and a warm breeze fluttered the seam of her sweater. She wasn’t sure of the band’s name playing in her ears. Definitely British. They were singing about lost love, lost youth. Very melodramatic.

Betty quickened her pace as she neared school. She could see kids in front of her, hanging around in two’s and three’s. She spotted a familiar head of scarlet hair and blue and gold cheerleader uniform and quickly ducked her head once more. Cheryl. Betty couldn’t deal with her this early in the morning. British bands singing about their lost love? Yes. Cheryl? No.

But it was too late. The girl had already spotted her, and before Betty could make a detour, Cheryl was bounding over, her red hair flying behind her. ‘Betty!’ The girl grinned, blocking Betty’s way forward. Cheryl Blossom was model perfect with pale skin and long, cascading red hair. She proudly called herself ‘Bombshell’ Betty smiled at the girl. Cheryl wasn’t bad. In fact, the two of them got alone -ish- since Cheryl’s brother Jason was dating her sister, Polly. ‘Hey.’ she greeted the girl, squinting when the sun hit, momentarily blinding her. Cheryl waved a cheerful hello joined her as they rounded the last corner.  It was weird. Sometimes Cheryl Blossom, on her bad days, would spit venom at you and expect you to bow down to her like she was some kind of princess.

Though thankfully, this wasn’t one of them days.

‘So, as it’s Veronica’s birthday today, I was thinking we could do something at the game?’ Cheryl said excitedly, and Betty stopped for a moment, frowning. ‘Veronica Lodge?’ she said and Cheryl gave her a perplexed smirk. ‘Who else?’ she laughed. ‘Honestly Betty, you are super-slow in the morning’s aren’t you?’ She continued to walk and Betty hurried along behind her.

Veronica Lodge was a new student from New York. She had moved only a few months ago. Betty had no idea she shared a birthday with the girl. What made it even weirder was that Veronica wasn’t the only one who apparently shared her birthday. Archie Andrews, a Bulldog and possibly the clumsiest person she had ever met (they had talked once, and he had face-planted right in front of his teammates.) His birthday was also today. He wasn’t vocal about it himself. Though his teammates liked to obnoxiously yell it in the hallways every year. The first time, in their freshman year, Betty had been startled as she watched fourteen year old Archie Andrews blushing a deep scarlet as Reggie Mantle, one of his friends, sung it loudly so others joined in.

‘So, what do you think?’ Cheryl coaxed. ‘Does that sound okay?’ Betty had tuned out of the girl’s babbling and blinked, nodding. Though she wasn’t entirely sure what she was agreeing to. Cheryl rolled her eyes and started to explain it again, but Betty couldn’t seem to get the thought out of her head. She shared a birthday with not just Archie, but new girl Veronica too?

Betty had made sure not to mention her own birthday. She had done a good job of hiding it so far. Plus, if it came out today of all days, she would just feel strange. Sharing a birthday with two kids in not a particularly large school made her stomach twist.

Betty’s day wasn’t exactly special. She kept her head down for the most of it, hoping she didn’t run into Cheryl. Betty was starting to seriously consider missing out on the game. Her headache had gotten progressively worse and in English Literature, when she had squinted at the board, trying to scribble down notes, her vision had started to go funny. Betty thought it was just her imagination and lack of sleep, but every time she looked up, there was always a dark shape, a shadow, seemingly following her as it danced across her vision, swallowing everything in its path. By the end of school she had swallowed four pain killers, hoping the dark shapes would disappear like a migraine. But they only seemed to get worse. As she made her way out of her last class, the door was shrouded by one, hanging there- as if it was waiting for _her_. Betty hurried out of school and slumped down on a bench, digging her face into her knees. _She wasn’t crazy_. She thought desperately, before lifting her head. It was like looking through a Sepia filter. The sky was a dark orange, and the sun, an obnoxiously bright ball of light searing her eyes and making her head pound.

They were everywhere. Betty’s gaze flitted across campus as kids walked in groups, loudly chatting and laughing. But shadows seemed to overlap them, drown them, skitter behind them. Betty rubbed her fists in her eyes, but it didn’t seem to help. She stared hard as the shadows only seemed to grow bigger, eating away the last glimpses of light. Betty felt shivers fly down her spine and opened her mouth to- _to what? yell at the shadows to fuck off?_ She’d sound crazy. But how could kids just ignore them? They were right there! Betty flinched when a shadow loomed over a crowd of freshman, settling over them like a vicious storm cloud.

‘Are you okay?’

Betty nearly jumped out of her skin at the voice and blinked rapidly. All at once, the color returned to her vision, all of the shadows disappearing. Betty found herself staring at a girl with long dark hair and golden skin. Her features were pretty, cat-like green eyes and smiling painted lips. The girl wore loose orange flowers braided on-top of her head like a crown. Veronica Lodge. Betty stared at the girl for a moment, before finding her voice. She wasn’t sure what to say, so she just blurted; ‘Happy birthday!’ and the girl looked surprised, before letting out a quiet laugh. ‘Uh, thank you?’ She said, before her eyes lit up. ‘I can’t help thinking it was somehow fate that I share my birthday with that sexy red-headed Teen Out-lander.’

 _Archie._ Betty thought. She bit back the urge to say; ‘Me too.’

Betty felt like burying herself in the ground. But Veronica only sat down next to her, crossing her legs. She was wearing a white polo and a pleated blue skirt. She looked like she belonged in a private school. ‘Betty Cooper, right?’ Veronica held out her hand in greeting. ‘Veronica Lodge.’ she introduced herself, but chuckled. ‘I’m guessing you already know that, though right?’ She shook her head with a sigh, the flowers in her hair jiggling. ‘Anyway, I was supposed to come and drag you to the game,’ she rolled her eyes, giggling. ‘Cheryl says you might try and do a runner.’ Though her smile disappeared when she seemed to finally notice Betty’s pale face and sunken eyes. ‘You don’t look so good, though.’ Veronica frowned, her forehead creasing with worry. Veronica was right. Betty didn’t feel well at all. Her head was pounding, she was hallucinating and she couldn’t seem to stop thinking about the weird coincidence that was sharing her birthday with Veronica Lodge and Archie Andrews. Though she forced a smile and jumped up.

‘I’m fine.’ She said, pasting  her best peppy grin on her face. Veronica didn’t look convinced for a second, before she sighed and stood up too. ‘If you’re sure?’ she murmured, fiddling with the flowers in her hair. Betty changed the subject as the two of them made their way to the football field. Betty could already hear distant cheers from the home crowd. She turned to Veronica, who walked silently beside her. For a girl who’s birthday was today, she wasn’t exactly jumping for joy. The girl looked deep in thought

‘The flowers in your hair,’ Betty murmured. She had been thinking it as soon as she lay eyes on the girl. ‘What are they called?’ Veronica shrugged, smiling. ‘Tiger Lily’s. My father said I had one stuck in my hair when he found me.’

Betty frowned. ‘Found you?’ She couldn’t help asking. Veronica hesitated, before turning to Betty with a sad smile. ‘I was adopted.’ she murmured, before letting out a short laugh. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t give you my sob-story. My daddy found me with a Tiger Lily in my hair and ever since then the flower has just been a piece of me.’ the girl shrugged and ducked her head, giggling. ‘God, I’ve just met you and I’m already pouring out my life,’ Veronica sighed. Though Betty’’s heart was starting to race. It was weird that her and Veronica shared the same birthday, but Veronica was adopted too?  Was Archie? How did any of this make any sense?

Betty had to know. ‘Veronica,’ she started to say, her voice soft, but urgent. ‘Do you know if Archie Andrews was…’ Though she was interrupted by a loud yell, that could only be Cheryl Blossom. Veronica whipped her head up and smirked, shaking her head as she watched Cheryl Blossom stalk over, pom=poms in hand. She looked furious. ‘You’re nearly fifteen minutes late!’ she yelled att eh two of them, her dark eyes flickering to Veronica. ‘I specifically told you to drag her by her hair, Veronica Lodge.’

Cheryl was acting like the world was ending. ‘The game starts in ten minutes and you’re not even in your Vixen uniform!’ she shrieked, and Betty winced. Cheryl’s voice was pummeling her skull, striking her already foggy mind. Betty stared at Cheryl and tried to focus on her wide eyes, her twisted scowl and the blue and gold glitter paint on her eyes, but she couldn’t seem to stop staring behind her, where a shadow had materialized and was slinking silently in the air, as if taunting her.

Betty clenched her fists so hard she dug crescent moons into the flesh of her palms. _Not real_. She told herself.

‘Snap out of it!’’ Cheryl hissed. ‘God, Betty! What the hell is wrong with you today?’

Veronica rolled her eyes. ‘Relax, Cheryl.’ she muttered. Betty could only nod silently, forcing her gaze from the dark shape slowly starting to stretch across the football field behind Cheryl. The question she was going to ask Veronica was still lodged in her throat, but she couldn’t exactly spit it out with Cheryl in their vicinity. Veronica though, seemed eager to continue their chat.

‘Talk later?’ Veronica murmured to her in passing as she hurried off to do warm ups with the other girls. Betty could only mutter a quick ‘okay’ before Cheryl was grabbing her arm and dragging her to the girl’s changing rooms.

 

~

Game night. Normally Betty loved it. Cheering for the Riverdale Bulldog’s, the smell of hotdogs and popcorn drifting from the home-stands. The cheering crowd jumping up at every touch down. But her head was still pounding, the crowd was _too_ loud and the smell of greasy food was turning her stomach. Betty jumped up and down, waving her pom-poms around like an idiot with a cheesy grin on her face, but she couldn’t get Veronica Lodge out of her head. The girl was in front of her, yelling out cheers and laughing with Cheryl and the other girls. The Bulldogs were leading, but The Serpent’s were good. Their crowd weren’t as enthusiastic as Riverdale’s though. They were more mellow. Choosing to stay sat down. Betty was halfway through a cheer, when her head started to hurt again. ‘B. U. L. L-’ she clutched her head, still holding her pom-pom and bit into her lip. The pain was getting ridiculous. It felt like someone had stuck a metal rod through her skull and was stirring her brain like a witch’s potion.

Betty started to doubt herself as the game went on, and the pain in her temples and skull prolonged. Maybe it _was_ a coincidence that Archie and Veronica shared her birthday, and the dark haired girl happened to be adopted. She was grasping at straws, anyway. Betty fell into formation with the other girls and cheered her heart out, until her throat was raw and her head felt like it was about to drop off. She watched Mantle block a Serpent and throw the ball to Andrews. Betty’s gaze lingered on the boy as he flitted across the field like an out of control pin-ball machine. It made her dizzy. No wonder Veronica had spoken his name through a smirk and glinted eyes earlier. Archie Andrews was broad shoulders and messy red hair plastered to his face with sweat. He might have looked like a beefy jock right there as he pushed his way through a crowd of Serpent’s, but Betty knew (at least from afar) the boy who had tripped and slipped his way through Freshman year. Somehow managing to land a spot on Varsity.

Archie was attractive, of course he was. But right then, it wasn’t his appearance that kept Betty’s gaze glued to him. He tore across the field, ball in hand, as a line of Serpent’s blocked him. Betty saw them all suddenly fly backwards, like being thrown back by an invisible force. But she _didn’t_ see Archie crash into them, or even make any contact whatsoever. Betty blinked before turning to Veronica and the others, who gaped, as the Serpent’s landed on the other side of the field. The crowd let out an almighty roar as Archie, after freezing in place and watching, as if he could hardly believe it himself, snapped out of it, and scored a touchdown.

‘Did you see that?’ Cheryl was yelling, her mouth agape. Veronica looked perplexed too, her arms were folded, her eyes on the boy as he continued to play, albeit shakily. The crowd didn’t seem to care, only that Archie had furthered The Bulldog’s chances of crushing The Serpent’s. But Betty was sure- _sure_ that Archie Andrews hadn’t even been near those boys. Thank god they were okay. They had jumped up, dazed and a little confused, but jumped back into the game. They kept a noticeable distance from Archie.

At half-time when Betty was supposed to be cheering, she skulked off to the girl’s changing rooms to grab painkillers since her head was just about ready to cave in on itself. She walking back out, cringing at the Twilight sky, which meant darkness and more shadows- when she heard a shout from behind her. Betty spun around, confused, before she realized the yell had came from above. Betty looked up, frowning, only to see a boy she had never seen before. He was standing on the school roof with his arms spread out. Betty’s heart dropped. She couldn’t properly see his features, but she could see he was around her age with dark hair falling in his eyes and was wearing a plaid shirt and jeans, a jacket wrapped around his waist. She couldn’t see his expression. He was standing right on the edge. Oh god, she thought, her stomach twisting. He was going to jump.

‘What are you doing?!’ Betty called up, and the boy looked down. ‘Watch!’ He shouted, and she felt bile climb to the back of her throat. ‘Watch what?’ her voice broke. ‘Are you crazy?! Get down!’

‘Nah,’ The boy laughed. ‘I can fly! See, just watch me!’

Betty stared. Was he on drugs? Though the longer she stared at him, the more she started to wonder if _she_ was on drugs. At first she thought it was a trick her mind was playing on her, like it had been all day. She saw the boy’s shadow. But it wasn’t- _still_. Like it should be. It looked more prominent, more real. Instead, it was a perfect outline of him and seemed even more animated than the boy himself. His… _shadow_ was grabbing him by the arm, trying to pull him back, but failing at every attempt. Betty took a few staggering steps back and swallowed a yell when the boy’s shadow tried to push him away from the edge.

‘Dude, can you stop?’ The boy laughed, brushing off his shadow as if it was a mind inconvenience. Betty swallowed hard. She was surely seeing things. How many pain killers had she taken again? Could they cause hallucinations? Maybe that’s what the shadows plaguing her all day had been. But her main purpose then, was to get the boy away from what Betty was sure was a deadly drop.

‘’What’s your name?’ She called up, and the boy stopped battering at his- _shadow_ to look down at her, shaking his dark hair from his eyes. ‘Jughead!’ He shouted. ‘Jughead Jones.’

Betty looked around her for anyone, any teachers or kids who could help. Because the boy was clearly having a mental breakdown thinking he could fly. But there was nobody but him and her- unless she was counting his _shadow.  
_

‘And yours?!’ He shouted down to her, and Betty snapped out of it. ‘Betty!’ she answered. ‘Betty Cooper!’ When the boy didn’t reply and only took another step towards the edge- towards certain death- she choked out, ‘It’s- it’s my birthday today!’

Betty pulled her phone out of her pocket and started to dial 911. ‘Wait, really?’ The boy shouted back. ‘Mine too!’ He let out a laugh. ‘Small world right?’ Betty forced out a laugh. But her mind was spinning, her stomach twisting, head pounding. ‘Jughead, please get away from the edge-’ Her voice was shaking. ‘I'm pretty sure you can’t fly!’

He laughed again. ‘I’m pretty sure you’re wrong!’

 _Oh god, no_. Betty started to stumble her way through some kind of reassurance that everything was going to be okay, and that he _couldn't_  fly. Because flying was fucking fictional and he was probably on some kind of drug which messed with his head and-

Betty lost her breath however, when instead of stepping away, like she thought he would. She thought Jughead Jones was messing with her, and would step down. But instead, she watched, a shriek building in her throat, as the boy once again spread out his arms, and fell forwards, before free-falling through the air. What was crazy- was his _shadow_ fell with him, struggling and squirming as if it was a living thing. Betty screamed. She heard it echo in her mind, bounce around in her skull. She stood frozen, waiting for the loud _crack!_ on the concrete. But instead, Jughead seem to grow lighter in the air, as if he was carrying himself- as if he was _really flying_. Betty watched, transfixed, as the boy landed feet first on the sidewalk. And then she was faced with the boy, and his features. Chocolate brown hair dishevelled by the wind poking from underneath a grey beanie. Wide green eyes staring at her in excitement. ‘Holy shit.’ he grinned at her, and Betty was far too dazed to offer some kind of reply.

‘I did it!’ He hissed, ripping his beanie off and dragging a hand through his hair. ‘I actually flew! Did I just do that Betty Cooper?’ He grabbed onto her arms, and Betty found herself being shaken by the clearly crazy boy with the green eyes. She couldn’t speak.

‘No you didn't.’ a voice startled both of them, and they turned to find Archie Andrews standing there with his arms folded, his eyebrows raised in amusement. His red hair was a sweaty mess across his forehead. Veronica Lodge was next to him, her hand clutching the material of his shirt. She was gaping at the boy, and then Jughead, her eyes wide with confusion.

‘I did.’

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure what you think, but if you like, please leave kudos and a comment telling me what you think :)


End file.
